Playing at the park

We love to take Luke to the park, and we have been several times this week. The park has put in a whole area for toddlers to play on and Luke loves it! He loves to climb up the slide (doesn't like to go down, just climb up!) He likes to crawl through tunnels and still enjoys the baby swings. We look forward to when it cools down a little so we can go earlier in the day. Here are some pictures.

Luke was so excited when we got to the park, he almost jumped out of his wagon!

Daddy pushing Luke on the swing

Luke bouncing on the seahorse

Luke playing with the steering wheel

Luke and daddy on the big kids slide!

Words

I keep forgetting to mention Luke's first few words. We are counting his official first word as "go"....he started saying that about a month ago, but has not been saying it much lately. He is consistently saying "done" or "all done" when he is done eating, which is a great improvement over throwing his milk and/or food on the floor! He loves to say "mama" and sometimes "dada" but we are not really sure if he clearly associates those names with Vic and me. In fact, the other day at a friend's house, Luke was banging on the refrigerator yelling "mama!", so I am a little offended that he has me confused with a large appliance!! Really, as I have long suspected, I think Luke just associates yelling mama with getting food :-)

Visiting Friends

Luke and I spent the week visiting friends and staying with grandma and granddad while Vic was in Montana and Utah for work (he wasn't too thrilled to go to such exciting places!). We stayed one night with Trinity and Kristy, and we also visited Jessica and Sterling. It is now becoming almost impossible to get a picture of Luke without him moving, much less Luke and another child in the same picture.....so this is the best I could do! We had a fun week but we are glad daddy is home now. As you can see, Luke is also continuing to help around the house with things like unraveling all the toilet paper!

Luke doesn't just like to unravel the toilet paper, he then likes to shred it to pieces!

Luke and Trinity digging in the grocery cart and playing in the kitchen

Luke and Sterling playing together

Chuck E. Cheese

We have continued to have a low-key week, spent mainly indoors or at the pool. Fortunately, Luke loves to go in the water and is happy to stay for as long as we want. Last friday, my parents came over and grandma decided it was time for Luke to make his first trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Yes, I know Luke it too young to go there, but we were out of good ideas for close and indoor ideas. Luke was in a bit of a funk, so we don't know if he enjoyed it or not. However, Luke LOVED watching Chuck E. Cheese talk on the stage. He was so excited, he looked like he wanted to crawl up on stage with him. He was much happier after we left and had lunch, food always seem to cheer him up! Luke is still getting closer to walking, he pushes everything that has wheels around the house, but doesn't let go yet. Here are a couple pictures from our outing.

Hanging out at home

Luke and I have had a pretty uneventful week last week, it is too hot to do much other than just stay inside! Luke is definitely making progress towards walking though, he has been cruising around furniture for awhile, but this weekend he started walking while pushing some toys, like his cozy coupe or other push toys. He really enjoys "reading", I find him all the time just sitting on the floor looking at books and babbling. Luke also loves puzzles, all he can do is just take out the pieces, so I have to put the pieces back in over and over :-) Luke has suddenly decided he likes going down his slide, as soon as he slides down, he tries to climb back up! And Luke also also loves to help with household chores, unfortunately his "helping" only makes more work for mommy. His favorite chores include taking dishes out of the dishwasher and taking clothes out of the dryer, which I hope someday will come in handy! Here are some pictures:

Luke is pretty proud of himself for walking around with his toy

Luke taking out the wet clothes from the dryer (I have to put the clothes in fast before he pulls them all out!)

Luke reading his puppy book, unfortunately, he also likes to rip interesting things out of books too, so we have to keep a close eye on him when he is "reading"

Chicago

After much debating (I had never spent the night away from Luke), I decided to tag along with Vic to Chicago for a few days before he had a conference for work. I missed Luke, but it was so wonderful to get away by ourselves, you definitely don't appreciate time alone until you have a child and never get any!! We left Luke with my parents and I was in Chicago for 3 nights, then Vic stayed the rest of the week while I came home and stayed with my parents and then Vic's parents. A special thanks to my parents for watching Luke, he is getting to be a handful!! Vic and I had so much fun doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted....without changing diapers, worrying about naps or bedtime! We had a great time and enjoyed just spending time together :-) Here are some pictures.

Taking a sunset cruise off Navy Pier on Lake Michigan, it was beautiful and SO relaxing!

This is at the Shedd aquarium....I was so proud of myself for actually capturing the dolphins in the air on camera during the dolphin show

At ESPN zone, you can eat dinner in recliners with tables attached while watching multiple sporting events on various tv's in front of you, it was awesome! But the coolest part of the ESPN zone is the......

TV in each stall of the BATHROOM! You can keep up with the game no matter where you are :-) I made Vic go in the bathroom and get this picture.

In front of the museum of science & industry. Vic and I are of course science nerds, but I think anyone would enjoy this museum. Vic's favorite was being able to answer all of the questions during the DNA demonstration :-) I had to tell him that just because he has a PhD doesn't mean he had to answer all the questions!!

Vic on the tractor inside the museum

Happy 1st birthday Luke!

Wow, well I cannot believe that this time last year we were holding Luke in our arms and he was only a couple hours old. This has been the best year of my life, and it has gone by way too fast. It has been so amazing to see Luke grow and change this year. He is such a great little boy, and I feel so blessed to have him. I love how he gets so excited each morning when he wakes up, he actually jumps up and down in his crib with a huge smile on his face every morning, what a wonderful way to start my day! I love to see him investigate and try new things, and the look on his face he gets when he has successfully accomplished something. I love that he stops in his tracks when daddy walks in the door at the end of the day from work and crawls straight towards him. Most of all, I just love being his mommy and getting to experience loving someone so much and knowing that even though Luke can't tell me, he loves me too.

Today was a very fun and special day, we celebrated Luke's first birthday today with our families and a few close friends. It was so much fun, it is amazing how only 5 children can feel like you have about 30 people in your house!! They had fun just playing with toys and getting to eat yummy cake and icecream :-)

Luke enjoying his birthday cake!

Luke had enough of the cake!

Luke opening all of his presents from the family....wow, where will all of these new toys go?

Friends playing at the party

Luke riding in his new cozy coupe from mommy and daddy

Luke trying out his John Deere wagon from grandma and granddad

Luke trying out his lawnmower from Nana and Pawpaw

Luke crawling through his tunnel, how fun!